1. Field of The Invention
The present invention generally relates to the technical field of manipulating and handling of direct access storage devices. Particularly, the present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for duplicating, upgrading and configuring hard disk drives installed in personal computer and workstations used in a networking environment. In addition, the present invention relates to the field of "cloning" disk drives. Cloning is the process of copying all files and operating systems from a master image into a target computer, overriding any existing ones. The present invention directly relates to the field of quickly and efficiently saving selected files, cloning the new files and then restoring the files saved on the disk drive. The present invention also relates to an efficient, quick and convenient system for backing up and restoring data files.
2. Description of The Prior Art
The following prior art references are found to be pertinent to the relevant fields of art of the present invention:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,156 issued to Kadison et al. on Jan. 15, 1985 for "Selectable Format Computer Disk Copier Machine" (hereafter "the Kadison Patent"); PA1 2. U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,509 issued to Johnson et al. on Feb. 23, 1988 for "Master/Slave System For Replicating/Formatting Flexible Magnetic Diskettes" (hereafter "the Johnson Patent"); PA1 3. U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,411 issued to Dishon et al. on Aug. 29, 1989 for "Multiple Copy Data Mechanism On Synchronous Disk Drives" (hereafter "the Dishon Patent"); PA1 4. U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,431 issued to Murase on Sep. 5, 1989 for "Tape Dubbing Apparatus In Which Each Of A Plurality of Slave Recorders Is Operated In Synchronism With A Master Player" (hereafter "the Murase Patent"); PA1 5. U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,601 issued to DuLac et al. on Sep. 12, 1989 for "Digital Data Bus Architecture For Computer Disk Drive Controller" (hereafter "the DuLac Patent"); PA1 6. U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,020 issued to Kahn et al. on Nov. 24, 1992 for "Serial Data Transmitter With Dual Buffers Operating Separately And Having Scan And Self Test Modes" (hereafter "the Kahn Patent"); PA1 7. U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,683 issued Dahlerud on Aug. 10, 1993 for "Method And Apparatus For Accessing Peripheral Storage With Asychronized Individual Requests To A Host Processor" (hereafter "the Dahlerud Patent"); and PA1 8. U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,526 issued to Ishii on Aug. 31, 1993 for "Recording Data Processing System For Optical Recording" (hereafter "the Ishii Patent").
The Kadison Patent discloses a selectable format computer disk copier machine. It uses a host computer, disk controller, disk drive, and mechanical disk feeder in order to automatically copy information onto each of a number of disks.
The Johnson Patent discloses a master/slave system for replicating/formatting flexible magnetic diskettes. It comprises a CPU section which has a Kopy Module and two associated manual modules, and is coupled by a daisy-chained bidirectional data Way to a plurality of slave stations. The Kopy Module stores a plurality of possible diskette formats as well as operator-introduced copy and duplicating instructions. Blank diskettes are fed into the slaves and the blank diskettes are formatted with information supplied by the master. A translator contained within the Kopy Module allows diskettes bearing all of the commonly used data encoding techniques to be replicated.
The Dishon Patent discloses a multiple copy data mechanism on synchronous disk drives. The system includes a host central processing unit (CPU) which is connected to control units and a plurality of direct access storage devices (DASDs) are predetermined to record the same data from the CPU. The DASDs are kept rotationally synchronized with one another except during the power up. The DASD synchronization is controlled and maintained by synchronization control means independent of any commands from the CPU. When one or more commands are transferred from the CPU to a control unit over a single data transfer path between them, desired identical records on the synchronized DASDs are concurrently located while the DASDs are reconnected to the data transfer path. Upon locating the desired identical records, the DASDs are reconnected to the data transfer path. Then, a write command is transferred from the CPU to the control unit form concurrently recording the same data onto the synchronized DASDs at the desired record locations.
The Murase Patent discloses a tape dubbing apparatus in which each of a plurality of slave recorders is operated in synchronism with a master player. Each slave recorder has at least one rotary magnetic head for repeatedly scanning a respective magnetic recording tape and receiving from the master tape player a signal to be recorded along with an external sync or reference signal. Each slave recorder is provided with a respective time base adjusting memory in which the signal to be recorded is written in synchronism with the external reference signal and from which the signal to be recorded is read-out in synchronism with a reference pulse generated in timed relation to a predetermined rotational position of the respective rotary magnetic head.
The DuLac Patent discloses a digital data bus architecture for a computer disk drive controller. The disk drive controller bus architecture enables the controller to be interfaced with disk drives having widely varying data format requirements in a configuration that is user-programmable and implementable on a single semiconductor chip. The bus architecture comprises a disk drive parameter storage section, a disk drive parameter comparator/interface section and a set of associated data buses, coupled between a disk drive control processor and the disk drive.
The Dahlerud Patent discloses a method and apparatus for accessing peripheral storage with asychronized individual requests to a host processor. The apparatus duplicates data from multiple magnetic disks and tapes, where the host processor functions as a data source and a plurality of peripheral storage devices function as data receivers, and are connected to one another via a data bus and a control bus.
The Kahn Patent discloses a serial data transmitter with dual buffers operating separately and having scan and self test modes.
The Ishii Patent discloses a recording data producing system for an optical recording. The audio information and the video information are converted by a computer into the information conforming to the CD-I data format, in which the amount of the converted software corresponds to at least the capacity of an optical disc and is stored in the memory.
One of the common methods developed by the PC industry to address the need of duplicating HDDs is to use a network to copy files from a centralized source HDD to a target HDD on respective workstations. It first prepares an "image" of the HDD on a centralized file server. Once the image is available, the user activates the computers' built-in functions with the network access functions to copy files from the file server, via the network, to the target HDD. This method is most suitable when the HDD is installed in the computer's enclosure as part of the PC manufacturing process. The HDD is not removed from the computer enclosure. This duplicating process is known as the "cloning" of the HDDs which erases all old files on an HDD and then replaces them with new copied files.
The present invention is designed to solve an existing problem faced by network system administrators when imaging existing user workstations by cloning the HDDs. The problem with prior art cloning software programs is that virtually all cloning tools in existence overwrite user files. The systems administrator is required to advise the users to save their personal files on the server before the cloning operation takes place, but no automated tool exists in the conventional art to aid in this task. As a result, if the user forgets to save key files, when the cloning operation takes place, all of the files in the user's workstation are wiped out and a new file system is implemented onto the hard disk drive. This presents a major problem because key files may be wiped out and may be difficult to replace if no additional copies exist.
It is therefore desirable to have a new and improved cloning system to assist the user to save all of his/her local working files (for example Microsoft.RTM. Word files, Excel files, etc.) to a safe place immediately before the imaging process takes place and thereafter to restore the desired files right after the cloning is completed.